This morning it was freezing, and my breath formed little clouds in the air. The Christmas tree in front of me gives me a feeling of happiness everytime I look at it, with its lights and red Christmas balls, makes me think of the coziest time of the year, coming in a few weeks. I don't hear the sound of horns, or other people laughing in my courtyard, there's just the Flemish radio with jazz music and from time to time an airplane flying over. Outisde, the wintersun is shining on all the green in our garden.
I'm home, and I have to say that it's insanly beautiful. Everything is so silent and luxurious, so cold and peaceful. As I wake up in the morning, I wonder how soft a bed can be, and as I go to sleep in the evening, I wonder how calm a day can be. Being reunited with my family and friends was lovely, and it felt like I didn't leave at all.
But still, from time to time, my mind isn't here in the clean and silent and luxurious Belgium, but it's in the dirty, loud and alive India. India, or better said MUWCI, 7 km from Paud and 40 km from Pune, on a green hill in Mulshi Valley. The place where part of me is since four months, where I feel at home just as much as I do here, where I became happy as I had never been before. And as I'm here, in my other home for only four days so far, I'm asking myself how I will ever be able to leave India and MUWCI, and to not come back after a few months to just live there again.
I'm scared that I will never be as happy again as I am right now, and that the best part of my life will be over at the age of 17. And one fourth is over... shit.
In the last weeks I learned a lot. Not only in my classes (though I studied more in the last two weeks than I did in the whole term), but mostly outside. There was human rights week and gensex week; two weeks focused on human rights and gender and sexuality, and in these weeks there were lectures about human rights in Kashmir, about feminism,...
The families that had us for a night (we stayed in their house for one night, to experience the 'real Indian life') in the beginning of the year, came to our campus to enjoy lunch and a show, and I realised again how valuable this one night was for me.
The last 'UWC skills course' gatherings happened. It's a weekly gathering of a few students with one of the faculty, to talk about culture, about MUWCI,... In the last weeks, we have been talking about what was missing in MUWCI, and what we could do to change that. Sadly, our teacher for this, Usha, left right before winterbreak, because of health problems. I'm really sad, because she was such a lovely, inspiring, wise and powerful woman, who thought me a lot and will be missed by everyone.
In the last week, there was also MUWCIlympics, our own olympics! People from every wada could sign up for lots of different disciplines, to make their wada the winner of MUWCIlympics 2013! I only participated in the 4x100 relay and our wada came on the fourth/third place (there was a shared second place). We were only 2 points behind the wadas on the second place, so it's okay (lol, I'm just looking for excuses, hope you'll forgive me). Next year we'll do better! ;)
On thursdaynight, there was Christmas dinner, which means dressing up, having good and a lot of food and mostly having a good time. After the Christmas dinner, there was a bonfire started next to my wada. After that, I slept in another room because there was a mouse in mine (oops, I shouldn't have eaten my brownie inside!). We ended up sharing three beds for six. It was a really cosy night, one of these nights that I won't forget. It was a great end to a wonderful term, filled with new friends, new knowledge, new memories and maybe also a new me.
My family and friends say that I didn't really change so far, but inside I did. There's now a whole new part of me, living there in India, a part that they haven't seen and that they will never see, but a part that will always be there, and that I will never forget.
Yours sincerely,
Louise
I'm home, and I have to say that it's insanly beautiful. Everything is so silent and luxurious, so cold and peaceful. As I wake up in the morning, I wonder how soft a bed can be, and as I go to sleep in the evening, I wonder how calm a day can be. Being reunited with my family and friends was lovely, and it felt like I didn't leave at all.
But still, from time to time, my mind isn't here in the clean and silent and luxurious Belgium, but it's in the dirty, loud and alive India. India, or better said MUWCI, 7 km from Paud and 40 km from Pune, on a green hill in Mulshi Valley. The place where part of me is since four months, where I feel at home just as much as I do here, where I became happy as I had never been before. And as I'm here, in my other home for only four days so far, I'm asking myself how I will ever be able to leave India and MUWCI, and to not come back after a few months to just live there again.
I'm scared that I will never be as happy again as I am right now, and that the best part of my life will be over at the age of 17. And one fourth is over... shit.
In the last weeks I learned a lot. Not only in my classes (though I studied more in the last two weeks than I did in the whole term), but mostly outside. There was human rights week and gensex week; two weeks focused on human rights and gender and sexuality, and in these weeks there were lectures about human rights in Kashmir, about feminism,...
The families that had us for a night (we stayed in their house for one night, to experience the 'real Indian life') in the beginning of the year, came to our campus to enjoy lunch and a show, and I realised again how valuable this one night was for me.
The last 'UWC skills course' gatherings happened. It's a weekly gathering of a few students with one of the faculty, to talk about culture, about MUWCI,... In the last weeks, we have been talking about what was missing in MUWCI, and what we could do to change that. Sadly, our teacher for this, Usha, left right before winterbreak, because of health problems. I'm really sad, because she was such a lovely, inspiring, wise and powerful woman, who thought me a lot and will be missed by everyone.
In the last week, there was also MUWCIlympics, our own olympics! People from every wada could sign up for lots of different disciplines, to make their wada the winner of MUWCIlympics 2013! I only participated in the 4x100 relay and our wada came on the fourth/third place (there was a shared second place). We were only 2 points behind the wadas on the second place, so it's okay (lol, I'm just looking for excuses, hope you'll forgive me). Next year we'll do better! ;)
On thursdaynight, there was Christmas dinner, which means dressing up, having good and a lot of food and mostly having a good time. After the Christmas dinner, there was a bonfire started next to my wada. After that, I slept in another room because there was a mouse in mine (oops, I shouldn't have eaten my brownie inside!). We ended up sharing three beds for six. It was a really cosy night, one of these nights that I won't forget. It was a great end to a wonderful term, filled with new friends, new knowledge, new memories and maybe also a new me.
My family and friends say that I didn't really change so far, but inside I did. There's now a whole new part of me, living there in India, a part that they haven't seen and that they will never see, but a part that will always be there, and that I will never forget.
Yours sincerely,
Louise
